Gray is great (if it’s not the sky!)

It actually didn’t take too long to get used to our new, radical, monochromatic house color scheme. The entire palette blends in with the surroundings so well. We ESPECIALLY love the new stairs and front posts and the way the weathered railing wood ties in the roof.

Montana’s summer of leisure is coming to an end in a few weeks, when she starts her job working for the WA State Attorney General’s office downtown. But she has been busy with SO many different projects, including painting every single outbuilding in the new color scheme. But now that her paint spraying days are over, she’s ready to get to work!

She also refinished quite a bit of outdoor furniture, including our porch swing!

Deep hardware-related father-daughter conversations underway

Ye olde pump house

The dog kennel/bee equipment shed

Here come the goats - always curious

She also had to paint over the red metal roof. The chickens appreciated that as part of the project she powerwashed the whole building including these wind panels, because there’s few things chickens love more than MUD.

While I’m out photographing the coop:

Some super sad news re: our sweet rooster, Sarge: A few weeks ago I noticed Sarge was striking the strangest pose on the roost at night, with his head bent WAAAAAAAY low. I couldn’t figure out how he could even balance in that position. But no big deal.

But then he just started completely slumping over in the chicken run, with his beak and head just completely bent to the ground. And then he started just laying down with his head in that position. Montana and I both hated that pose - it’s very similar to how the goats often sleep out in the field - because they just look completely dead. But then he would pop up and look fine.

However it soon became clear something was very wrong with Sarge. I took him in the house where he lived in a dog kennel in the kitchen for a few days. I didn’t think he was eating or drinking, and we figured that was the end of Sarge.

Then I was awakened by an incredibly loud crowing from my kitchen - he was full of vim and vigor. So, even though he still seemed weird, I didn’t think it made sense to keep him in quarantine. He was released back into the flock.

But nothing really changed with his posture or behavior. He remains incredibly listless, his feathers sagging. He occasionally stands up proudly and shakes his feathers and crows. But mostly he just half-lays with his head down or does the full “playing dead” pose. I can get him to eat only the tiniest amounts (though he may scratch up more on his own). He now sleeps in the corner of the coop floor with our big black cochin hen instead of hopping on a roost. We don’t think he is long for the world. But the other birds don’t seem to pay any notice to him (that’s the biggest thing with an injured or sick bird - the other birds can get pretty nasty and start pecking at them, Circle of Life stuff). So we are super sad - Sarge has been a great rooster for us.